Baylor Fight: Bear Down, You Bears!
Contact: Baylor University Media & Public Relations, 254-710-1961
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Since the 1940s, it has been unclear who owned the copyright to Baylor University’s official fight song, but what became very clear over the past several years is that the University faced significant legal risk if it did not own the copyright to its own fight song. Baylor University now officially owns the copyright to the new arrangement of "Baylor Fight: Bear Down, You Bears!," legally protecting the University’s fight song in the same way Baylor has legally protected the historic Sailor Bear and interlocking BU logos. In addition, after decades of using multiple informal names for the fight song, "Baylor Fight: Bear Down, You Bears!" clearly identifies the institution it represents.
The fight song itself has not changed. The melody, lyrics, harmony and identity of the 1947 Frank Boggs and Dick Baker composition remain intact. Only the arrangement has changed, meaning the way the existing composition is orchestrated and presented by the band. As the University sought copyright protection, it was important to create a Baylor-owned official arrangement that is musically distinct from previously published arrangements while preserving the composition itself.
What Baylor audiences will notice is a modification during the "B-A-Y-L-O-R" spell-out. The spell-out itself remains, but a new call-and-response element from the band has been added. Following each letter called by the crowd, the upper voices of the band respond with a short fanfare gesture. This creates more energy and interaction during the spell-out while allowing the original fight-song melody to continue underneath it.
Baylor University’s intent of seeking copyright protection was never to replace or reinvent Baylor's fight song. The goal was to preserve the Boggs-Baker composition and Baylor's existing performance tradition while creating an official Baylor-owned arrangement of this cherished musical tradition that the University can manage and steward directly today and for all ages to come.